Alopecia
by KaipazuKebin
Summary: Red X strikes again, stealing something of great importance to Robin.
1. Red X

DISCLAIMER: TEEN TITANS and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and copyright DC Comics. This story is more directly based on the animated series of TEEN TITANS produced by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

OTHER CREDITS: Research on comic events, specifically for character pasts, was done at the website TITANSTOWER.

Consultants for the first chapter were Toon Zone members, ShadowOfAGhost and Welshie's Mate. I feel like I should also give some credit to Vortexgirl for her support.

TIME PERIOD: This story can really take place any time after the episode X, but I tend to put it sometime before THE END, or even BIRTHMARK.

But note that the prologue is primarily taken directly from the episode MASKS.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: In keeping with my "fanfiction philosophy", this is just as personal a piece to me as my last story; I've even called this "Lifted Nevermore – Book II". That said, this ISN'T A SEQUEL. cough And _that_ said, if you came here expecting anything like my first Titans fic, this isn't it. This takes a different tone entirely. But the result is a much weaker plot; don't argue with me, because it is. Chapters are much shorter—it was a total of about 40 pages shorter—and they aren't nearly as episodic. Though this story pales in comparison to "Lifted Nevermore", I think it could make a beautiful stand-alone episode; that's how the idea was conceived and that's how the story was written. I hope this doesn't result in any lost readers for my next story (which I'm hoping will be a step up), but I had to get this concept out there.

REASON FOR T RATING: You may find this story quite tame and perhaps deserving of a K+ rating, but for disturbing themes (some of which only cryptic or implied) it's been given the T rating.

* * *

Robin hunched over his desk as he tried to learn the villain's motives. Though he tried to think logically, as Robin was always logical, and he tried to focus on the specific situation at hand, as Robin was always focused, his thoughts dwelled more on the character's haunting quotations and the question of his true identity.

Slade's words rang though his head, "_Robin, is that the best you can do?_

"_Excellent work, Robin; I think your skills are improving._

"_If you're really so curious about my intentions, perhaps we should meet face to face._"

Robin looked over the various gadgets recovered from past encounters with Slade, though they had never faced him directly.

Robin hated Slade with his entire being; why he was so obsessive is anyone's guess.

"Who are you?"

He was so lost in thought he hadn't heard the door open and Starfire enter. "Robin," she began, "I am wondering if you might wish to—"

"No," he interrupted, turning around to face her, "Thanks, but I need to figure out why Slade wanted that chip."

She smiled for him, "Agreed, and perhaps if you were to _take a break_ the answer would be easier to—"

"I can't," he walked towards her figure in the doorway, "You almost got hurt; next time it could be worse." Thoughtfully placing a finger under his chin he looked off to the side under his mask, "He's planning something. I have to find out what."

"But Robin, I am sure that—"

He shut the door.

And there he would remain brooding, plotting, and planning.

It seemed obvious to him that Slade's psychology must be far from Robin's. So he came to the realization that to understand a villain one would have to be a villain.

To find out what Slade was planning he'd have to fool him into thinking he wanted to strike a partnership.

And so Robin thought up an assortment of weapons and tools. Robin thought out his whole plan. But as the hours progressed his creativity grew weary just as he was trying to think of his super villain name. Knowing of so many made it even more difficult to come up with a new one.

Robin began to doze off.

As he closed his eyes, an image of an X appeared before him. Out of this X came a trickle of blood. As if provoked, the X oozed out a substantial amount of the bodily substance until it began to contract to its initial state. But the wound opened again, now with a greater flood.

Suddenly Robin felt wide awake and in a cold sweat. He took a pencil and scribbled down a rough draft of his alter-ego's costume.

He wrote down his name: Red X.

"**Alopecia"**

by Kevin Kypers

**Chapter 1 – Red X**

The breeze was cool but it was comfortable. The sounds of the bay were relaxing and the smell was enchanting. The moon shone bright on the outskirts of Jump City; the elements were so soothing, he was having a hard time keeping from dozing off.

Lying on his back and looking towards the night sky was Red X, contentedly waiting atop the warehouse.

o-o-o

"So why'd you drag us out here, again?" asked Cyborg as the Titans strolled along the boardwalk.

Robin answered, "I have a feeling something's going to happen."

"You dragged me away from _Ninja Monster Fighter 3_ because you had a _feeling_," Beast Boy pouted, "What—so you're a psychic now? I thought that was Raven's thing!"

Raven gave her team leader a thoughtful stare; she too wondered what this was really about.

"Man, you should be _thanking_ Robin for taking us out here! I was kicking your butt!"

"No you weren't! You only had forty-two HP left!"

"You only had sixteen!"

"But I had another ninja monster!"

"Guys, be quiet," Robin ordered.

They walked in silence for a moment until Cyborg whispered, "I so was gonna win."

Beast Boy argued, also keeping his tone to a whisper, "No you weren't! I was gonna send out Chiyo!"

"You _started_ the fight with Chiyo; I already killed him with Junji," Cyborg replied, quietly.

"Then I would have sent out Hakaru."

"B, you can only carry six Ninja Balls with you to a battle; the only one still alive was Akashi!"

"Dude, I _know_ how to play the game; I've played it through, like, a million times. You only beat _five_ of my ninja monsters. There was still one with some HP."

"…That was the one you were using, man!"

When it finally hit Beast Boy he was suddenly very embarrassed and feeling like an idiot, "_Oh, yeah._"

"Shh," Robin hissed with his index finger by his lips. He listened to the silence disturbed by the call of a steamboat.

"_Wow, a ship; good thing we showed up_," sarcastically commented the frustrated shape-shifter.

"I am sure Robin has brought us here with good reason," Starfire affirmed with a smile on her face.

Robin was looking from side to side when he caught a glimpse of a figure standing up on the roof of a warehouse and proceeding to run towards the edge. Pointing and running to meet with it, Robin called "Right there!"

The other Titans shared some surprised looks with each other; there really was someone.

"I _told_ you Robin knew precisely what he was doing," Starfire chimed.

o-o-o

X leapt from the roof of the warehouse and upon landing prepared to sprint towards the dock. He was stopped when out of nowhere a bird-a-rang flew out and planted itself in the ground in front of him. Looking to the left he saw the Teen Titans plainly standing in their signature formation.

"I knew I'd find you here," said Robin.

"You know me too well, kid," said Red X. He proceeded to aim his palms towards them and shoot X-shaped disks.

Robin jumped forward, landing on one X and kicking the other towards the villain. Red X easily dodged the inverted attack, but as soon as he stood firm Robin planted a kick in his chest. The force sent him flying towards the open doorway of the warehouse. He bounced back up quickly, but ran inside.

"Titans, GO!"

o-o-o

Red X was swiftly leaping from beam to beam when he suddenly had a glowing palm in his face. As quick as lightning, X dodged Starfire's assault, jumping right over her head. While airborne he glanced back at the explosion resulting from the starbolts shot by the Titan. The section of girders where he had been was destroyed.

The shards of metal were naturally pulled by gravity down towards the floor, until they were surrounded by a black aura. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven used her powers to toss the debris upward at an angle; the pieces would beat down the adversary. The hit was direct and now Red X was hunched at the bottom of the warehouse. But as Raven and Starfire approached the character he threw a sort of red capsule towards Raven. It opened with a sort of X-shaped door as the object suddenly increased in size, and the next moment Raven found herself trapped in a strange crimson ball.

X soon jumped away and back towards the standing beams. The flustered half-demon immediately began attempting to destroy the shell with her dark powers while Starfire flew to her side, trying to pry it open with her fantastic alien strength. But the battle with Red X would continue as the boys caught up.

Cyborg led the barrage, charging his sonic cannon. But X, who swung on a horizontal rafter half-circle to position himself facing the Titans, pulled out another gadget and tossed it towards the charging blast. The object, red and X-shaped to stress the theme, was a type of shield that attached itself over the blaster. Red X found Cyborg's expression somewhat amusing just before the blast fired; the shot reversed itself when it hit the shield.

The intensity sent Cyborg flying backwards, knocking into Raven's bubble, which Starfire was still trying to open. The ball rolled backwards, with Starfire still attaching herself, and forced Robin, who had been right behind it, to turn around and run to avoid being crushed.

Such droll events had not fazed Beast Boy who changed from a falcon to a pterodactyl to knock X off the beam. Beast Boy's beak plowed into Red X's stomach, but he did his best to ignore the pain. Confusing Beast Boy, X flipped over the emerald-colored animal's head and on to its back. He planted a kick on the rear of the shape-shifter's head, dazing him as he flew straight into the wall. By the time he became an unconscious green human, the offender had already leapt onto another supporting beam.

Unable to help Raven in a timely manner, Starfire left the amusing scene of the rolling sphere to continue fighting Red X. Before she could actually attack, however, four of Red X's toys were put to use. One X covered her mouth, another bound her hands together, and a third attached itself to her ankles. The fourth locked around her waist with a rope connecting to his belt. She was too surprised to realize what had just happened as X swung her crashing through a window. He jumped out, himself, onto the boardwalk, but by this point Robin was right on their tail.

o-o-o

As Red X approached the dock whilst he held the Tamaranean under his arm, Starfire shook a bit violently in an attempt to tear the bonds; had she more than a few seconds before an abrupt action she would have broken free easily. Just when she was about to free her arms, X detached the cable between them and tossed her into the ocean.

Suddenly the girl found herself trashing about under the sea. Water was rushing up her nose; she felt she was going to die. A muffled splash was heard just before she felt a tug at the rope attached to her waist again. Robin had, predictably, dived in the rough waters to save her. Struggling to stay at the surface himself, he managed to shoot a grappling hook at the ship Red X had come to plunder.

o-o-o

Aboard the vessel were crates of xenothium ore, the substance that powered his suit. After carefully opening the box, Red X helped himself to the glass tubes containing the xenothium, each securely placed in individual holders, as it was a very unstable substance. Untamed as he was, he figured they were safe enough cradled in his arms.

The sound of the grappling hook caught his attention, and soon after Robin and Starfire emerged. Once onboard facing the enemy, the drenched Robin realized, dishearteningly, that trying to fight X while he held the ore could result in the death of all three of them. He could do nothing but stare at him.

He had to ask, "Who are you?"

Red X tossed the question right back at him, "Who are you?"

"I'm Robin," he answered simply.

"I'm Red X."

With that he made his getaway, jumping over the crate and continuing in that direction. But to assure that they would not follow, X tossed a tube of the unstable xenothium at the opened crate.

There was just enough time between the ore leaving his hand and the resulting explosion for Robin to jump back into the ocean, taking Starfire with him, of course.

Red X got away again and Robin blamed himself.


	2. Hiding

**Chapter 2 - Hiding**

"So you jumped out of the window, into the water to save Star, caught up with X, and managed to not die when the whole thing exploded?" Upon their return to the Tower, Robin had explained the later half of their pursuit of Red X to Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy. The shape-shifter seemed quite impressed, "Dude, is there anything you can't do?"

"Stop Red X, apparently," Robin answered coldly as he stomped over by the sofa just before sitting down, hunched over.

But Beast Boy knew the hostility of his tone wasn't directed towards him; Robin was angry with himself. "Still, that was pretty cool!"

"You did your best, Robin," Cyborg comforted.

Raven assured him, "There was nothing more you could do."

He slammed his fist down on his knee, "That's the problem; I should be able to do more."

"Well, nobody's perfect," stated Beast Boy.

"I'm not saying I should be perfect," Robin growled, "I'm just saying I should be able to do my job!"

This comment belittled his friends who had all failed before he did, but they all knew he hadn't thought of that. They hoped he hadn't, anyway.

Raven finally questioned, "How did you know he would be there?"

The leader's eyes narrowed as he explained, "The last time we faced X we took back the belt I had made. I figured if he was having the same trouble I had in utilizing the power of the xenothium he'd need as much as he could if he wanted to make a new one. I've been checking up on the city's imports and knew a shipment of the ore was coming tonight. If he's having as hard a time I had, I don't think what he got away with will last him too long."

Robin's acknowledgement of his history using Red X as an alter-ego invoked a moment of awkward silence.

Cyborg broke it as he advised, "Don't get too hung up on it." He turned to the wall and, placing his open hand on the scanner, initiated lock down, "Goodnight." The automatic door opened up for him, and Beast Boy followed out of the room.

Starfire scanned the area for Raven but it seemed she wasn't there. While the Tamaranean found it odd, it didn't seem uncharacteristic of Raven to simply disappear without a word. She welcomed the peculiarity of her vanishing act, however, as she was aiming to be alone with Robin.

She walked over to the couch and sat very close to the boy, though he hadn't raised his head. "I…thank you for rescuing me," she said, smiling in an attempt to raise his spirits.

"You don't need to thank me, Starfire."

"I most certainly do; had I not gotten in the way, you would have stopped the Red X. It was my fault," she couldn't help but frown and look away.

Robin's expression softened as he faced her, "Don't say that, Star! I was just too slow; you were great! Your speed alone is admirable; you got in front of him, managed to catch up with him even after attempting to help Raven—and you have your strength and intelligence! You're amazing, Starfire!"

She turned her face towards him, again, now meeting with his eyes. Her smile was warm and her eyes soft. As he reviewed her in the dim light, Robin found himself repeating, "You're…amazing…"

She wrapped her arms around him and held him affectionately. Slowly, his arms lifted; Robin found himself sharing in the embrace. Starfire let herself fall on top of him, and the two were now laying down together.

There were such extreme feelings in this one moment, and it was all sparked so easily. Neither was really sure how or why they were suddenly in each other's arms, but both were too caught up in the euphoria of the instant to think about it too much.

Overwhelmed with emotion, they hardly realized they were tenderly stroking one another. They were unaware of time while Starfire's chin nestled comfortably in a niche of Robin's shoulder.

To hear him breathing soothed her; to hold her close relaxed him.

She slowly turned her head to look at the boy she was on top of. Her hand crept slowly over his face. She wanted to remove the mask covering his eyes.

As soon as her fingers touched it, however, Robin's hand moved from Starfire's back and gripped around her wrist.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a stiff tone.

"I—I wish to see your face."

"You can see my face."

"But not your eyes," she felt awkwardly pulled out of the euphoric state.

He carefully rolled Starfire off of him and sat up, "I—I'm gonna go to bed; goodnight, Starfire." With that he picked himself up and headed for the door.

"Robin, wait," she sighed, "I am very sorry!"

He stopped as the door opened for him. Not looking back he muttered, "It's not a matter of trust, Starfire." Then he was gone.

She felt as if she had done something terribly offensive; why the idea of showing her his face flustered him so much, she did not know.

She first thought that his final sentence was a bit awkward and inapt, but as she thought about it she wondered if he meant to assure her such a cold response wasn't exclusively for her. Regardless, she found some sort of comfort in it.

Similar questions were running through Raven's head. The mysterious Titan had been hiding in the room the entire time.

Her soul-self had once entered Robin's mind; they shared a bond. She should know Robin very well, but something about him seemed out of place. She felt like she knew him at the same time she didn't know the first thing about him. His actions, his drive; there was still an air of mystery floating around his character. Though she prefers to keep secrets herself, she hated when secrets were kept from her. She wanted to know more about Robin, the team's unstable leader.

Raven disappeared and left Starfire alone.


	3. Breached Security

**Chapter 3 – Breached Security**

"_You've got the money?_"

o-o-o

Underneath the sleeping city—as close to "sleeping" a city can be, anyway—remained the series of tunnels carved out by Slade's giant robotic worms. These scars hidden below the city's surface were reminders of Terra's betrayal.

…But they also served as a route of transportation for both dim-witted kids looking for a good time and criminals looking for buyers or sellers of illegal goods. They had carved it wider for a more comfortable setting.

To avoid being found, black market dealers were forced to go some ways down into the tunnels, but this wasn't a problem as a new series of smaller tunnels was created, making new openings to the city. Still, no one dared to go to the deepest reaches of the passageway, especially considering where it would lead them.

o-o-o

Red X stood staring at the immense hole Slade had hollowed out to put together the control center for the machines supposedly meant to bring Titans Tower underground. It was still in pretty good shape, considering what took place there and how long it's been since it was operational. He'd seen the sight once before, but somehow it impressed him more the second time.

This facility was just set up exclusively for Terra's powers so that she could show off and the Titans would trust her. If that's all he needed to do, Slade could have done it much easier. "Guy didn't cut any corners," X thought to himself as he scanned the area with his flashlight, "I guess he had a lot of time to waste between scheming pointless domination and screwing with that blonde's head."

Red X fastened the flashlight into the belt he had made, "Rock climbing time." After a running start, X jumped off the bridge. Following a painful slam against the rock, he gripped on securely and began climbing up.

Things would have been much easier for him if his suit was powered, but he had already burned through one tube of the xenothium just sneaking around the city and wouldn't dare waste more. He wasn't patient enough to bother with any more experiments; Robin learned how to use the ore and that was all that mattered.

Near the rock ceiling a tunnel was already carved. It was the passage X had taken to reach the Tower once before. Being quite skilled himself, it was made by use of his own gadgets; none of which centered on his new theme and none of which did he wish to use anymore. Of course he had to create an array of new X-gadgets, having lost a number of them when loosing the belt.

o-o-o

Having crawled through the narrow tunnel, the master thief was pleased to find his hole in the floor of the Tower's basement hadn't been filled yet. The Titans hardly went to the basement, let alone examine every dark corner for an opening.

Through this awkward underground path, Red X was able to steal the suit in the first place. Because he wasn't on the surface and because he opened no doors there was no way he could be detected.

Unless, of course, the computer caught him when he tried to open the safe the suit was locked away in. But, if you were smart enough, you didn't have to blow anything up or even bother with a complex code to hack into the system. Each Titan had their own password to enter their files on the mainframe; he just hoped Robin had a lame password, and he did. X guessed it on his first try and the safe opened up for him.

"S-L-A-D-E."

So now, after climbing out and darting across the room, X punched the name of the infamous villain into the device next to the safe.

"ACCESS DENIED."

"What?" Apparently, Robin had changed his password.

He thought for a moment and took another guess.

"T-E-E-N-T-I-T-A-N-S."

"ACCESS DENIED."

"T-I-T-A-N-S."

"ACCESS DENIED."

"B-A-T."

"ACCESS DENIED."

"G-O-T-H-A-M."

"ACCESS DENIED."

"R-O-B-I-N."

"ACCESS DENIED."

"B-O-Y-W-O-N-D-E-R."

"ACCESS DENIED."

"R-O-B-I-N-B-O-Y-W-O-N-D—."

He couldn't type anymore; there was a limit to twelve characters. "Ugh, what is it?" He thought for a second when it suddenly came to him; it seemed so obvious, he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it already. He backspaced and typed in his new guess.

"S-T-A-R-F-I-R-E."

"ACCESS GRANTED!"

X laughed to himself, "You're _way_ too predictable, kid."

It opened for him.

But nothing was there.

"…You're kidding, right?" Robin hadn't locked the belt away in the same place. There was no telling where it could be.

Not losing his cool, he looked over the area with his flashlight. To his satisfaction, there was a much smaller safe implanted on the adjacent wall. "Bingo."

Again he entered the alien's name. The safe opened up and there it was. The original belt Robin had made.

Red X pulled out the belt and made sure it still had all of the goodies on it. He loaded it with some xenothium that had been kept in a pouch on his makeshift belt. Taking it off, he tossed it in the safe to replace the original that he was stealing. Even if a number of his new devices were both creative and effective, he wanted nothing to do with what was made by his own hands.

So he fastened the recovered belt around his waist. X's mission was a success.

Of course, this was only the first in a series of missions to take place tonight. To move on to the second task he'd need to leave the Tower.

Rather than crawling back into his tunnel he'd go upstairs and set off the alarm, for a number of reasons.

It was more fun, for one.

o-o-o

"_You remember who gave you that scar, don't you?_"

"_Not you. It was one of your lackeys._"

"_Don't get smart with me! You'll get me that money or I might put a nice X right through your throat, personally!_"

o-o-o

Robin's dream was disrupted by the loud cry of the alarm, and he was extremely thankful for it.

Just as he was wiping the sweat from his brow, he heard his door open and caught of glimpse of Red X's frayed cape as the criminal sprinted out of the room.

Not wasting any time, Robin jumped out of bed. He was, of course, still in uniform, as was required of the teenaged vigilantes; they never knew what time of night they might be called upon.

But running past his mirror covered closet, something caught his eye.

The mask had been stripped from his face.

Frantically, he swung open the closet door only to find that his mask rack was empty.

Feeling defeated and sick to his stomach, the boy slowly shut the door and reviewed his reflection again as the red light continued to flash and the alarm continued to sound.

Robin was no where to be seen; all that was there was a pale, pathetic soul with blue eyes.


	4. Resurfaced

**Chapter 4 – Resurfaced**

The silence of the night was disturbed by the blasting of a sonic cannon. Cyborg tore through the corridors as he raced after Red X. Though fueled by frustrations of X getting as far as in the Tower before his security systems caught him, Cyborg was unable to get a direct hit. Red X was just too swift; he'd leap or duck to dodge every beam.

o-o-o

A groggy Beast Boy lazed out of bed, rolling off the top bunk to a painful slam on the floor. Now irritable, the bleary eyed Titan stomped over to the door.

Upon opening it, he was greeted by an insanely bright blue flash shooting down the hallway no more than two feet in front of him. After blinking a few times, it registered with the now reasonably awake Beast Boy that this blast was Cyborg's. His suspicions were confirmed when Cyborg ran past his doorway, too.

"C'MON, B! HURRY UP!"

Beast Boy's teammate kept running until he was out of view. Angry about being woken up, he thought about just letting the others deal with it and go back to bed. But he was awake now, anyway, so he transformed into a leopard to join the chase of whatever it was Cyborg was shooting at.

o-o-o

Falling a little behind, Cyborg was getting more and more upset with Red X. Suddenly something poked between his legs. An ostrich's neck emerged from beneath him and got Cyborg on its back. It was his comrade, Beast Boy, who was now one of the strangest birds made stranger by being green. Riding on Beast Boy's back, Cyborg gained some speed and soon they were right on X's tail.

As the doors opened to the lounge for the villain, Starfire was right there waiting for him. A bit surprised, Red X stopped where he was. As she fired her starbolts down at him, Cyborg, who was right behind the intruder, fired his sonic cannon. The smoke cleared and left a baffled Starfire, Cyborg, and ostrich staring at nothing but a hole in the floor.

What had happened was, just as the two energies fired, Red X leapt towards the ceiling then plunged downward into the haze after the crater had been made. The three Titans were made aware of this when on the other side of the room a dark circle covered the floor. Emerging from the floor below was Raven with X wrapped in blackness.

"I've got him," she affirmed.

Struggling to get his palm out of the black aura, X argued, "Don't be so sure, Sunshine. I'm just getting started." Aiming his hand at Raven, he shot an X-shaped bomb. Losing her concentration on Red X, Raven focused on a shield to protect herself from the explosion.

Landing on all fours, Red X reviewed the opponents surrounding him. These were a provoked half-demon, an irritated super-powered alien, a half-robot ready to blast him to pieces, and a vicious green wolf showing its teeth. But the one who really caught his eye was the frail boy peeking though the doorway.

"This should be fun; the gang's all here."

Now that their enemy had mentioned it, the four teammates found it strange that it wasn't Robin who led their chase. Glancing at the doorway resulted in shock; Robin stood their without his mask on. They only saw for a second, as he soon stepped backward to avoid being seen.

Turning human, Beast Boy expressed his surprise, "_Dude…_"

Apparently not so astounded, X kicked his legs up into Raven's stomach. With his feet back on the ground, he stood on hind legs and aimed his hand at Starfire, firing several X-bombs.

Turning a couple degrees, Red X aimed the same palm towards Cyborg. Clicking his wrist, he now shot an X at Cyborg that expanded in size to grip itself on his chest and arms. Grabbing on to the rope that had been attached to the X-device, Red X swung the Titan to the right, knocking the adjacent Beast Boy across the room, where he would remain quite dazed.

Upon X letting go, Cyborg ended up by the doorway where the exposed Robin was hiding behind the wall. As Cyborg struggled to free his arms, he looked over at the team leader, "Yo, man, what are you waiting for? Get out there!"

"But…"

Something about his tone didn't sound like Robin at all. "What's wrong, Robin?"

"…He took my mask." He sounded so helpless.

"Well, go kick his butt and get it back!"

Cyborg's attempts of encouragement managed to get Robin to take a few steps.

Meanwhile, as the battle continued, on X's right Raven was prepared to drop the sofa on him and on his left Starfire was charging her starbolts. As Raven tossed the couch with her powers, Red X was able to avoid being hit and proceeded to crash down on it with a strong X-shaped blade. It was sliced in two; one piece was knocked in Raven's direction and the other towards Starfire. Neither had expected half a sofa to come flying at them.

Having been granted a moment's rest, Red X stood tall, proud of his talents. He hadn't expected a bird-a-rang to hit him on the back of the head, though.

He let out a cry of pain and began rubbing the area. Looking behind him he saw the mask-less Robin awkwardly standing there looking unsure of what to do next.

X walked right up to him and put his face up close to his. The Boy Wonder leaned backward just before faltering with his footing and took a step back. Red X had a certain energy about him that it was obvious he was thoroughly enjoying the stare-down.

"You look like you're about to cry, kid," the villain mocked. He brought his arm back and punched Robin across the face.

He fell to the floor and gave up the fight.

"Robin!" Starfire flew to the fallen leader's side; she was apparently more concerned about the disturbed Robin than whether X got away again or not.

Using the edge of an X-shaped disk, Red X cut a large circle in the glass window overlooking Jump City. "Tell Robin I said, 'Thanks for the belt'," he said as he pushed the glass out of the circle, "Catch ya later, Titans; I have a feeling I'll be seeing you again before the night is through." With that he jumped out.

Raven flew over to the window after him, but when she looked out X was nowhere to be seen.

Cyborg, still unable to move his arms, ran over and stuck his leg out the gaping hole, prepared to shoot a missile from his foot. "Where is he?"

"Gone," Raven answered.

Cyborg brought his leg back inside as Raven used her powers to detach the X from him.

Beast Boy, who was upside-down against the wall, pondered, "Dude, what just happened?"

"It would seem we were defeated," Starfire explained.

"Well, _yeah_, but, like… Robin hardly did anything; and what's with his mask?"

"Or lack of," Raven corrected.

Kneeling by Robin's side on the floor, Starfire observed, "He is unharmed, as it would appear."

"Yo, Robin, you okay?"

It took him a moment to realize they were talking about him. "Yeah, I'm fine." He sat up to assure them, though his head drooped low.

"You said X stole your masks?" Cyborg affirmed.

"Yeah."

Starfire attempted to look in Robin's eyes, but failed to see directly as he was so slouched. "But why?"

Beast Boy thought for a moment, "He's selling Robin Halloween costumes?"

"Try again," Raven said, rolling her eyes.

Raven was under the impression that Red X must have known how radically losing his mask would affect Robin, but how? Has he known Robin earlier in his life? If this was the case, his stealing Robin's masks might help him for the moment, but she felt sure that ultimately Robin would get a handle on things and figure out who would know to strike him in this way.

She wouldn't disclose her thoughts to her team, though, as she was still contemplating them, herself.

"What I wanna know is how he keeps getting in here," Cyborg whined.

Starfire leaned forward putting her head at Robin's level, "Robin, are there any speculations you would wish to share?" Concern was evident in her voice.

He exhaled and shook his head softly, "No."

She felt sympathy for Robin, but wasn't sure why she should. The item lost wasn't a necessary component of his costume; not having a covering over his eyes shouldn't affect his performance.

Was looking _cool_ really so important to him?

o-o-o

The Titans awkwardly remained there for some time. They weren't sure whether they should go out and track X or just go to bed and wait for him to strike again. After about twenty minutes had past, Red X made the decision for them.

The Titans received a report. "X isn't wasting any time; he's been spotted at the hospital," Cyborg explained.

"What's he doing there?" Beast Boy wondered.

"Don't know, but I guess we're gonna find out."

But they remained standing there for a number of seconds. Finally, Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy all directed their attention towards Robin.

It was as if they were waiting for him to say something.

"…_Oh!_ Uh, Titans, go!"

With that Cyborg made a run for the door, closely followed by Beast Boy. Raven hovered after them. Before Starfire went through the doorway, she paused and looked back at Robin. Generally it was he who would lead the team in a sprint for the door, but not now.

Robin slowly rose from the floor and brushed himself off. In small steps he walked towards Starfire.

His body was slouched and he looked towards the ground. As he met with Starfire he lifted his head ever so slightly to acknowledge her, and then continued toward the door.

It had never been so obvious that Robin's build really wasn't that of a fighter at all.

As she watched him walk ahead, she realized how terribly scrawny Robin's body frame really was.


	5. Diseased

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I really would rather not say anything at all, but I've been getting more reviews on this story than my last one and enough people have comments that I feel I should say something in response.

First off, don't worry about "shipping".

Next, I may soon be accused of making Robin out-of-character, but read on and things will come more full-circle. As for someone's comment on why Robin shouldn't be scrawny, it was simply an observation of his character model. All of the Titans were styled awkwardly to capture that teenaged essence; Robin was designed far from a sturdy build. He is an acrobat, but his body isn't a typical fighter's.

…As for Robin having extra masks, he most certainly does…which is why he immediately looked in his closet at the end of chapter three. I can't say much for the story, itself, but I certainly look at every detail; heh.

* * *

**Chapter 5 – Diseased**

Cyborg jumped into the T-Car and Raven soon joined him, sitting in the passenger seat. The two were caught by surprise when they heard a third door open. Robin was sitting in the back.

A bit baffled, Cyborg asked "You're not taking the R-Cycle?"

"Uh—no, I'm not. This is okay, right?"

"Yeah, I guess." He exchanged a confused look with Raven.

Firing up the ignition, the T-Car was off with Starfire and Beast Boy flying alongside it.

o-o-o

As Robin sat behind Raven he leaned on the window, looking out of it. There was a light drizzle; he appreciated it. Though it was the middle of the night, lights were still emitted from the city. Most glimmered in the drops of water covering the glass; he squinted to make all of them glimmer in the same way.

One person caught his eye. He was a young man—maybe in his twenties—sporting a brown trench coat. His hair was unkempt and dark. Robin began to think about how this might have been the only time he would ever see this man.

Perhaps they had met before in one of the Titans last adventures. Or maybe he would meet him again at a later point. Perhaps he would eventually have some earth-shattering importance to Robin.

Who was he and where was he from? Where was he headed?

Why on earth was he out so late?

Now he began to worry about the man.

He looked back again and realized several minutes had passed since they drove by this person.

But now a group of three caught his eye.

He soon forgot about the mysterious man as he began to wonder what this trio was up to.

Just as he was putting together the last pieces of an elaborate plot explaining the origins of the three and where they were headed off to, the car stopped and he realized he was in a parking lot.

o-o-o

"Reye's syndrome is a rare but fatal childhood disease which affects the entire body, primarily the liver and brain, and it tends to follow a viral infection. It's not a contagious condition, but for the longest time there has been no cure.

"If diagnosed quickly, chances of survival are obviously much higher than if later. But unfortunately, the syndrome is often misdiagnosed and can kill a victim in a matter of days.

"But there has been a medical breakthrough. Though it is still a bit experimental, a new cure has been created for Reye's syndrome. We have two patients here suffering with the disease; a young boy in a coma as well as a little girl whose irritability is a direct result. As far as we can tell, their only chance of survival was this new cure.

"The parents of each child just signed the papers earlier tonight, and we were to go through with the treatment this hour. But something unexpected happened; for whatever reason, Red X paid us a visit and stole the cure, and I'm afraid it would take at least two weeks for more to arrive." The doctor's expression was grim and saddened, "Would you like to see the boy?"

"Yeah, sure," Cyborg answered for the team. His tone was sympathetic.

Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy all followed the doctor, but Starfire turned to face Robin who had been standing a few feet away from the group. He looked ridiculous; he had pulled his cape over his head to cover his eyes.

"Robin, are you coming?"

"No, you guys go ahead."

"Robin, I do not think anyone here would recognize your true identity; there is no need to look so absurd by wearing your cape in such an odd fashion."

He said nothing.

She left Robin and followed the others into the boy's room.

o-o-o

Only a few seconds had passed before Robin walked down the hallway and peeked in the door, still holding the cape over him, of course. The doctor was still rambling; _that_ seemed _absurd_ to Robin. If time was of the essence, why was he wasting theirs? After glancing at the boy he quickly turned around and muttered insults about the foolish doctor.

He peeked in the room next to it where he spotted the girl. She apparently spotted him, too, "What are you doing here?"

He opened the door and slumped in, "I'm supposed to help find the antidote for your disease."

Her eyes began to swell, "You mean they lost it?"

It hadn't occurred to Robin that they wouldn't have told her what happened. It was too late to lie, now, "Well, um, somebody stole it. But we'll get it back for you."

"Now I _know_ I'm gonna die," she cried, "Some _idiot_ in a stupid costume is supposed to _save me_? He doesn't even know how to wear a cape; can you even see where you're going?"

Her words hurt, but he wasn't angry with her in the least. He felt her frustrations were more than justified and that he deserved much worse comments.

In an attempt to appease her, he put his cape back and showed the little girl his face.

Still hostile, she yelled, "_Good job, stupid!_ _NOW GO FIND THE STUFF!_"

She was right; she was right. Still slouched, Robin quickly walked out of the room.

o-o-o

"He is most adorable," Starfire observed as she looked sorrowfully upon the child in a coma.

"He's dying," Raven grimly reminded her.

Beast Boy couldn't help but think of his childhood and the rare disease he had gotten which ultimately resulted in his abnormal abilities. In this way he empathized with the boy, "Dude, we've gotta help him."

"Then let's stop wasting time and go," Cyborg stated.

"Before you do," the doctor began, "this paper was left in place of the antidote by Red X." He handed it to Cyborg.

There was an address. This would be where they'd look first, even if it seemed like a set up.


	6. Poisoned

**Chapter 6 – Poisoned**

The light drizzle had turned into a steady rainfall. As the water collected into murky puddles it was revealed that the city wasn't quite as clean as it normally appeared.

Leaving the T-Car in the hospital's parking lot, he Teen Titans walked along the sidewalk. Robin didn't have the cape over his head; he wanted to let the rain fall on him.

They had followed the address to a building with a sign above reading "MIÀN-JÙ" and under it "CHINESE RESTAURANT".

"Sweet," Beast Boy exclaimed, "Mid-night snack!"

"Why would X lead us here?" Cyborg wondered.

Raven decided, "We might as well go in."

And so they did.

o-o-o

"It's the Teen Titans!" The young Chinese woman at the register's face lit up as she began to applaud. The kitchen staff followed her lead.

Needless to say, the Titans found this a bit strange. "Uh, thanks," Cyborg said.

The petite woman had a cute face and short black hair. "You will be having a late dinner?"

"Ehhh, no… We're—"

"A second dinner? Yes!"

"B, we're supposed to be tracking Red X!" Normally, Cyborg might welcome a second dinner more than Beast Boy, but someone had to be the responsible leader.

Beast Boy moaned.

"You five are always so busy keeping the city safe," the woman began, "You should take a break and fill your stomachs!"

Cyborg, who seemed to have taken the role of leader while Robin was acting weird, thought for a moment. Late-night hunger was already creeping in, and if they didn't stop now Beast Boy would be whining about it all night. But he really ought to ask for Robin's opinion, "What do you think, Robin?"

"Uh… I don't know."

Cyborg rolled his eyes, "Okay, we'll eat something."

Beast Boy grinned from ear to ear.

"Okay!" She pulled out a pad to write the orders, "First, what would Robin like?"

This place didn't feel right. "No, thank you. I don't want anything."

"No-no-no! You must eat something," she argued playfully.

He was put on the spot and didn't like it. His cheeks were red and his palms were sweaty as he said, "Chicken lo mein, please."

"Okay, and now Cyborg?" She was still smiling.

"Sweet and sour pork—no, wait! I'll have the ta-chen beef! That's hot and spicy, right?"

"Yes! Now what would Starfire like?"

Starfire really had no idea what any of the dishes were so decided to go with what Cyborg had turned down. "I will have the sweet and sour pork, please."

"Beast Boy?"

"Vegetable chow mein!"

"And that just leaves Raven!"

Raven was glancing at Robin, "Pass."

"You'll just be hungry later," the woman reasoned.

The Titan sighed as she directed her attention towards the woman, "I guess I'll just have an egg roll."

"Very good! Your food will be done shortly!" She tore the sheet with the orders off the pad and handed it to a man working in the kitchen, muttering something to him in Chinese.

"Hey, do you mind if we look around?" Cyborg asked. "A lead brought us here so—"

She faced him and wore an awkward smile, "Oh, of course not! Go ahead!"

o-o-o

The Teen Titans gave the restaurant a thorough search but found nothing out of the ordinary.

o-o-o

Pouring all sorts of sauces on their foods, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire ate a bit messily as teenagers do. Raven ate her egg roll at a comfortable pace. Robin hunched over his food, as if protecting it, and chewed hurriedly, pausing in between bites.

After wolfing down his chow mein, Beast Boy put his arms over his stomach. "_Ugh, I don't think that food agreed with my stomach…_"

"Well, you're gonna have to deal with it," Cyborg replied. "Man, I don't feel so hot, either…"

Raven was reviewing the menu, "Anyone else find it strange that they say their only open 'til nine?" She put it down when she felt a pain in her stomach.

Looking away from it, she noticed Cyborg and Beast Boy on the other end of the table were passed out.

She felt someone leaning on her; Starfire was passed out, as well. Robin, who was next to Starfire, was also.

The ache in her stomach became searing and her eyes felt heavy. Raven let herself fall on the table and began to loose consciousness.

o-o-o

"_You remember who gave you that scar, don't you?_"

"_Not you. It was one of your lackeys._"

"_Don't get smart with me! You'll get me that money or I might put a nice X right through your throat, personally!_"


	7. First Impressions

**Chapter 7 – First Impressions**

As consciousness was slipping away from her, the blurred image of a figure in black appeared beside the table.

Though muffled, Raven could make out the words, "Good work. You're making this a lot easier for me."

It was Red X.

"A lot more fun, too."

She couldn't hold on any longer.

Raven passed out.

o-o-o

"_You've got the money?_"

"_…No._"

"_Why not? I'm sick of waiting!_"

"_I'm not paying you anything!_"

o-o-o

Raven's mind began to wander to times past.

"I found her wandering around the city looking for us," Cyborg announced as he brought a mysterious figure in a cloak before his teammates.

"No, not wandering," she corrected him as she put down her sack, "I knew I would find you there. And so I waited."

"_Right…_" He took a step away from her and whispered in Robin's ear, "She's been sayin weird stuff like that since I ran into her."

"My name's Robin," Robin said, extending a hand with a smile on his face, "And you are?"

She did not shake his hand. "My name is Raven."

"Oh, well, uh…" He felt a bit awkward having his hand out and not having her reach for it. He brought it back to his side. "It's nice to meet you!"

"Hey, Raven! I'm Beast Boy," called the shape-shifter.

"Hello, new friend, Raven!" Starfire had come to the front to give Raven a warm hug, "I am Starfire! It is a pleasure to meet you!"

Raven was taken by a bit of surprise and flung the girl off of her with a strange black aura.

Starfire, who was now a few feet away from Raven, was at a loss for words, much like the other Titans. "Um…"

"I'm sorry," Raven began, "I'm not very personable. But I'm sure that won't interfere with fighting crime, correct?"

Robin was taken aback, "What?"

"I want to join your group."

There was silence.

o-o-o

The team leader, Robin, took Raven alone with him into his thinking room.

He set up two chairs facing each other and sat down in one. He pointed towards the other and in a warm tone said, "Have a seat."

She sat down, but her expression was completely void of emotion.

"Okay," Robin clicked his pen and clipped a piece of paper onto the clipboard resting on his lap, "First off: date of birth?"

She didn't answer.

The empty look in her eyes was making him very uneasy, "_Okay, then… We'll get back to that…_ Alright: parents' names?"

Still, she didn't answer.

"Uh…" He tried best he could to keep his smile, hoping it would make her bit more comfortable, "How did you acquire your super powers?"

Her expression was unwavering.

"What you did before was pretty cool; is there more to your power than moving objects?"

Finally, she responded, "Yes."

"Cool! What kind of things can you do?"

"You don't want to know what I can do."

He didn't know what to say to that. "So, um… Have any hobbies?" He was just hoping he could ask a question that would have an answer.

"I read."

"Reading! That's cool! What kind of stuff do you read; anything I might know?"

"It's highly doubtful."

There was no tone in her voice and Robin could hardly stand it. Still, he would try to seem relaxed for her sake, "Heh heh; yeah, I guess I don't read as much as I should. I read this one book—I can't remember the name—but it was pretty awesome. Maybe you've read it; it was about this samurai who—"

"No, I haven't."

His throat was going dry. "Oh, well—moving on then…"

"Is there a point to this interview?"

"It's just procedure; you know: putting you on record, that sort of thing."

"I feel I would be a useful addition to your team."

"I'm not saying you wouldn't be; I just have to ask you a few questions first. Now, can you tell me a little about your past?"

She still kept her blank expression, "I would be a useful member."

Robin finally gave up trying to be warm, "Raven, when were you born?"

"When were _you_ born?" she mocked him.

"I didn't come to you asking to join your group; what are your parents' names?"

"What are _your_ parents' names?"

"I don't appreciate this, Raven," Robin said in a stern tone.

"I don't appreciate being asked personal questions."

"It's procedure; I just need to know a few—"

"Would you appreciate me asking you personal questions?" she began, "Who are your parents, Robin? Do they know you run around all day wearing a mask and a cape?"

He didn't answer.

She glanced around the room; it was nearly completely bare. The walls were black and covered with newspaper clippings about villains and the Titans' victories. "Interesting décor; do all the members of your team idolize themselves? Or do you idolize your enemies?"

"Raven…"

"Tell me a little bit about your past. How did you wind up here? Being the leader of a group of teenaged heroes isn't exactly what I would call a normal position; your story is probably an interesting one."

Robin's head was lowered as he looked to the side. In her insecure defense of her own history, Raven hadn't really thought about how cruel she was being to Robin; she knew nothing of his past and yet she was pulling at his strings. For all she knew she may have just said something to invoke dreadfully painful memories in the boy.

She thought for a moment, "I'm sorry."

Robin picked his head up and looked at her directly, "No, don't be. You don't have to say anymore; I can tell your story isn't a happy one."

After saying that, somehow her eyes didn't look so empty.

Robin had a feeling that the two of them could grow to be very close friends, but his logic wouldn't let her join the Teen Titans so easily.

"Even so, Raven, I still need to ask a few questions and I still need to know a few answers. Let's just get this over with, alright? That'll be easier on both of us."

There was silence.

"Raven, what is your date of birth?"

She sighed, "I would be a useful member to your team…"

He sighed, too, leaning back in his seat and looking towards the ceiling.

o-o-o

Raven's mind continued to wander.


	8. Alone

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ha; time for a little commentary again, I see. It seems my last chapter sparked a bit of controversy.

Firstly, that was my interpretation of Raven's joining the Titans; through researching the comics I learned that the team was actually formed (or reformed in a sense) by Raven. But in the comic she needed to form a group quickly because the Justice League wouldn't have her and she needed a group of heroes to battle Trigon who was soon to come. Only after the Titans beat Trigon, I've read, did they allow Raven to continue hanging around (apparently they didn't trust her much beforehand). But, in the animated series, this obviously isn't the case; Trigon doesn't show up until the fourth season. This left freedom for interpretation as to how the animated Teen Titans formed.

I'm sorry if you didn't like the flashback—personally, I thought this was one of the more interesting chapters—but I'm afraid the story has been completed for some time now; I am just posting it slowly.

User simplegrl007 asked if I might let them use the element of Red X stealing his belt back in their own story. Unless Red X were to make his own belt, stealing the original is really the only way it'd make sense for Red X to pose as a villain, isn't it? As long as your story doesn't mirror mine in any way, and as long as you find a different way for X to get to the belt (I'm a bit proud of my "Titan Rising" approach; don't steal that), I don't care. Go ahead. Thank you for asking first; you didn't really need to ask, but I appreciate it.

Hm, I never really thought anyone would think X was talking to _Raven_ at the beginning of that chapter… That's all I'm gonna say.

* * *

**Chapter 8 – Alone**

"Wake up, sleepy-head."

Starfire slowly regained consciousness. After letting out a yawn, the image before her began to come into focus; Red X's masked face was right in front of her.

Shrieking in surprise, Starfire instantly shot eye-beams at the villain; he managed to dodge them. "Whoa, calm down!"

She tried to move but couldn't; she was trapped in a barrel full of some sort of thick sticky liquid. And for whatever reason, Cyborg's limbs were stuck in with her.

"_Ugh, what's with all the noise?_" Beast Boy sat up inside a cage.

Red X glanced over at the shape-shifter, "So two of you are awake."

Beast Boy yawned and looked around; it took him a second for his mind to register that he was in a cage. "Hey, what's this?" He transformed into a gorilla to pry the bars open only to be electrocuted when he touched them.

"Try to break out all you want, it's not gonna work," Red X stated as he walked up to Cyborg's torso. Looking towards Starfire he added, "That goes for you, too."

She scowled at him.

"Hey, Tin Man," X said as he shook Cyborg gently.

"_What? Aw, man… How long was I out?_"

"Eh, not too long."

Cyborg realized X was holding his torso and his limbs were detached; the one exception being his left arm, which was missing a hand. "Wait a minute! What's going on here?"

"Wow, what kind of lame line is _that_?"

Beast Boy noticed Raven was sprawled on the floor not too far from him. "Psst! Raven," he whispered, "Get me out of here!"

Red X let go of Cyborg and stood straight up. Turning to Beast Boy, he chuckled, "Raven's not getting you out of there. Raven's gonna be asleep for a little bit longer; there were some _really_ heavy sedatives in that egg roll."

"You poisoned our food?" Cyborg was outraged.

Starfire cried, "Where is Robin?"

"Not here."

Cyborg asked in a serious tone, "Where is he?"

"Beast Boy," Starfire called, "contact Robin with your communicator!"

He searched himself for his communicator but couldn't find it, "Maybe I left it at the Tower!"

"Looking for this?" X revealed Beast Boy's communicator.

"Dude, what do you want from us?"

"I thought you didn't like being the big bad guy," said Cyborg.

"Don't see this as more than it is; I just can't have you guys getting in the way," Red X explained, "Robin's fine…well, kinda."

Starfire shouted, "What did you do to him?"

"Hey, take it easy; I didn't hurt him or anything," X assured, "Geez, I stole one little thing and you guys act like I'm some evil mastermind—oh, wait… I stole a few things today, didn't I?"

Cyborg tried to find out where they were using his GPS receiver, but it seemed as if Red X had disabled it.

"The ore, the belt—still, that doesn't make me a _bad_ guy, does it?"

"You are a _very_ bad man," the Tamaranian scolded.

"Whoa-ho," X laughed, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves!"

Cyborg questioned, "What are you planning?"

"Nothing, if you can believe it. Sorry if you were expecting some big elaborate world domination thing, but this is it—things fell into place, so I'm pretty much done for the night." He headed towards the exit of the damp, dreary room, "You three were probably going to wake up soon anyway, so I thought I'd be the nice guy and clue you in. You can go back to sleep if you want; sweet dreams, Titans."

He left them alone.

"_Dude,_ what are we gonna do? Where the heck are we?" Beast Boy whined.

"That I can't tell ya," Cyborg began, "X must've shut down my GPS receiver. But he forgot something I think he would have liked to remove."

Starfire pondered, "What did he forget?"

Grinning, her teammate replied, "My built-in communicator."

The alien girl squealed, "Contact Robin! Robin will save us!"

"Yeah, right," Beast Boy stated mockingly. "Incase you haven't noticed, Star, Robin's not exactly acting like Robin."

She didn't want to loose faith in him.

"Even so," Cyborg began, "Robin's our best bet. Let's just hope he's not locked away in some helpless situation, too."

o-o-o

He woke up in an alley leaning against a brick wall.

The rain hadn't stopped.

He left the alley only to find he didn't recognize this area of the city at all.

There was no night-life; this section wasn't very populated, it would seem.

Strangely enough, a road leading into the city from this area wasn't a turnpike or a highway—it was just a road.

It seemed to stretch on forever. There were no cars on the road and no attractions along it.

As he reviewed the area it seemed completely unrealistic, and yet he was there.

His communicator rang, soon followed by Cyborg's voice, "Cyborg to Robin!"

Slowly he reached for the communicator connected to his belt and raised it to his mouth.

"Hi."

o-o-o

Starfire giggled in delight simply because he responded.

Cyborg held his left arm near his mouth, "Alright! He didn't take your communicator! You okay?"

"Um… I don't know where I am," came through in Robin's voice.

"Neither do we; X is keeping us captive."

"I'm not captive… But it's this really weird section of the city."

"Any road signs?" interrogated Cyborg.

"Well… Route 44," Robin answered.

"Route 44?"

"Dude, look!" Beast Boy pointed towards the barrel Starfire was trapped in.

It read "Farmer's Market – Route 44 into Jump City".

"Red X shops at a farmer's market on route 44? Is that stuff you're stuck in some kind of new organic thing?" Cyborg was a bit confused as he tried to put all of these strange clues together.

"What?" questioned the Boy Wonder on the other end of the communicator.

"Nothin; hold on a sec." He pushed a button with his nose for a keyboard to come up. He typed in 'route 44', still using his nose, and a map appeared on the small monitor. "Aw man, that place isn't even considered part of the city anymore. I wonder why X left you there."

Starfire suggested, "Perhaps he should find this farmer's market?"

"Yeah, maybe. But that's not really much to go on, is it?"

"We don't have anything else to go on," Beast Boy moaned.

"Robin, walk along route 44 until you find a farmer's market. When you do, stop there to investigate."

The voice came in, "I don't see any market along that road."

Reviewing his map, Cyborg responded, "It's a pretty long road, man. You should probably start walkin."

o-o-o

He slumped lower and his spirit shattered. He let out a pathetic whimper, sighed, and then began his walk.


	9. Switching Roles

**Chapter 9 – Switching Roles**

_He slammed the other man against an animal's cage. He proceeded to lift the man's shirt and trace the X-shaped scar on his side._

o-o-o

While Raven remained unconscious, her mind continued to drift to a night she lie awake in her room.

She couldn't fall asleep that night, for whatever reason. She tried to think of something that might be keeping her up, something bothering her, but she came up with nothing.

It was closing in on three in the morning, but she didn't even feel tired.

She thought about just getting out from under her covers and reading a book, but then she heard a slamming noise from somewhere in the Tower.

Now curious, Raven began to consider what it might be. It seemed a good idea to investigate; it was most likely nothing, as the noise wasn't very loud, but at least it would provide her with something to do.

o-o-o

She wandered the halls of Titans Tower certain that she'd find nothing, giving her an excuse to patrol the entire Tower once or twice before going back to bed. To her surprise, however, she heard another sound; this one was louder than the one before.

Smaller bangs followed, and she headed in their direction.

Her curiosity had peeked, and as she got closer and closer to these noises she began to wonder if she ought to alert the others. But when she reached the source of where these violent noises were coming from, she was standing right outside Robin's bedroom door.

Slowly she opened the door and looked inside.

His bed was a mess and his dresser knocked over. Though feeling a sense of fear, she looked towards the direction of the noise to see Robin slam himself against the wall.

He fell to his knees and began slamming his fists into the floor.

For whatever reason, Robin was fueled by some sort of rage.

Finally he fell over and stopped moving, save his labored breathing. He had tired himself out through his fit.

Raven had always been labeled the creepy member of the team, but she felt this situation fit the word perfectly. She was at complete unease standing in the doorway, but she felt unable to move and she was thoroughly afraid to speak.

Suddenly, Robin began tugging at his hair. He pulled so aggressively, pulling out knots. He quickly shot back up and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He looked at himself as if he wanted to kill him. Slowly he walked up to the mirror, brought his arm back, and prepared to crash his fist into it when all of the sudden she spoke up.

"_R-Robin?_"

His eyes widened as he now saw her in the reflection. "_Raven?_"

"Are—Are you okay?"

Robin fixed his hair which was messed up after he had pulled on it. "Yeah, I'm fine… Just…training, that's all. I'm sorry I woke you up."

That wasn't training. "That's okay; I was still awake, anyway…"

"Is something wrong?" He sounded genuinely concerned.

Raven took a step into the room, "No, I just couldn't sleep."

He sat down on his bed, "If something's bugging you, you can tell me."

She sat next to him, "It's good to know. But I'm okay, really."

They remained in awkward silence for a number of seconds.

"How long were you standing there?" Robin asked.

"…Long enough to know you weren't training."

He slowly ran his hand through his hair; she noticed that when he reached the top of his head he clenched his fist to finish by pulling at it. He removed his hand and shook off a strand of hair that had come out.

"Robin, what's wrong?"

"…I don't know."

She just stared at her friend.

He laughed a little, "I know that sounds stupid, but I really don't."

"Do you do this every night?"

"What? No—No, of course not. This is the only time I've ever done anything like this, honest."

"Is something bothering you? Slade?"

"Maybe… No—Really, I have no idea why I did this. I couldn't fall asleep for some reason and—I don't know." Robin looked towards his feet.

"I'm sorry I can't help," she said as she stood up.

He raised his head to meet with his eyes in the reflection.

"Goodnight." She took quick steps to get out of the room.

"Wait, Raven."

She stopped in the doorway and looked back, "_Yes?_"

"Let's not tell anyone about this, okay?"

"O—Okay."

"Thanks; goodnight."

o-o-o

Raven's mind continued to wander.


	10. Cruelty

**Chapter 10 – Cruelty**

The rain had stopped and Robin no longer appreciated that it had ever been raining; it left unbearable humidity. His legs were growing insanely tired through each step, and his perspiration was disgusting.

"I see it," Robin spoke into his communicator.

Cyborg's response was, "Good, now go check it out."

He was coming up on the roadside farmer's market. It was a very small building constructed of wood. The market wasn't very attractive—in fact, it was a bit run-down—but Robin was under the impression they didn't see many customers.

As Robin got closer he noticed an old man was sitting outside in a rocking chair, alongside a dog resting by his feet. As soon as the two took notice of Robin, however, the dog sat up.

"Hello," the old man greeted.

"Hi."

"What can I do fur yeh?" He attempted to grin pleasantly, but his wrinkles and missing tooth just made him look menacing.

"Uh…"

"If you're lookin to buy vegetables, we've been outta business for a number of years, now; I'm sorry."

"I'm, uh, sorry to hear that."

He had kept his communicator on so that the others could hear the conversation. He whispered to Cyborg, "Now what?"

"Ask him about Red X," he responded quietly

Robin put the communicator back to his side. "So—um—I—"

"Boy, yer dressed funny," he laughed.

He didn't feel comfortable talking to this gentleman, "Heh, heh; yeah, I guess I am… I was wondering if…I could….ask you a few questions?"

"What kinda questions?" Suddenly the old man didn't look to be in good spirits.

"Just, you know, if you've seen someone…"

"Who should I have seen?"

"No one—I mean, Red X. I mean—maybe you saw him or maybe you didn't."

His volume raised and there was a hint of anger in his tone as he leaned forward in his seat, "Boy, if you're gonna ask someone a question you just ask it and if they answer they answer and if they don't you mind your own business!"

The dog was now standing as it growled at the Teen Titan. Robin now recognized it had that horrible _dog_ smell, the kind of smell all outdoors dogs who weren't kept groomed seemed to have. He knew he should have concentrated on the fact that its teeth were showing, but he seemed more concerned with the drool dripping from its mouth.

In any case, he had to respond to the old man. "I was just wondering…if…you have seen…someone."

Cyborg's voice was heard by all three at the scene, "Robin, what the heck are you doing? Just ask him if he's seen Red X!"

"Who are you workin for?" The man was outraged that someone had been listening to the conversation.

The dog barked at Robin.

"Get 'im!" the strange man egged the dog on. And so the dog began to chase Robin who was now running back towards the street.

He was having trouble going any faster than he was; his legs were still throbbing from his long walk. The dog was gaining on him and he had fears that it was going to rip him to shreds.

Unsure of what to do, he fumbled with a bird-a-rang and made a quick turn-around to throw it back. Though he ended up tripping over his feet, the bird-a-rang hit its mark.

The dog let out a loud yelping cry just before falling backward onto the pavement.

The old man ran as quickly as he could, shouting, "WHAT DID YOU DO?" He fell to his knees by his dog and repeated to Robin, "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

Scared, Robin got up and ran back down the road.

He wasn't sure where his bird-a-rang hit the dog. He wasn't sure if it would be okay. But he regretted hurting it with his entire being; he hurt an animal. He had no right to do something like that, but he wasn't thinking at the time. Now he felt he'd never forget; he felt like this would haunt him for an eternity.

o-o-o

"Robin, what just happened?" Cyborg yelled into his arm.

"I guess they didn't like me, so the dog started chasing me."

"And?"

"And…I ran away. And I threw a bird-a-rang at it because it was…chasing me."

"Is it okay?" Beast Boy yelled, having been horrified by the yelp that came through a few seconds ago.

"I don't know," Robin answered.

Beast Boy demanded, "Well, go back and check!"

"I can't do that!"

"Dude, what the heck's your problem?"

"Beast Boy's right," Cyborg said to Robin in a harsh tone, "Now, I don't think you should go back there, but that incident shouldn't have happened in the first place! The guy you were talking to seemed a little weird, but you should have been able to handle it better than that!"

"Please," begged Starfire, "Robin is without his mask; you should not yell at—"

"_Boo-hoo, you don't have your mask_," Beast Boy yelled, "DEAL WITH IT! Now quit being such a loser!"

"Robin, while you were walking there my anti-virus systems kicked in and I've got my GPS receiver back on-line; I'm sending our location to your communicator. It's back in the place X left you. Don't let us down man. Get a grip and kick X's butt." Cyborg cut off the transmission.

"Dude, I don't like the new Robin!"

"Me either," Cyborg grumbled.

Starfire hated seeing Cyborg and Beast Boy yell at Robin as they did, but she understood they were justified.

Still, she wouldn't agree with them about not liking this '_new_' Robin.


	11. Thoroughly Hopeless

**Chapter 11 – Thoroughly Hopeless**

The dog was dead. Robin felt sure of it. And he knew it was all his fault. He had no right to do what he did. Cyborg was right; he should have just asked about X then ran away and never looked back.

He thought about turning around to make sure the dog was alright, but whether the dog was okay or not, he was the last person that old man would want to see—unless he had wanted to murder him. In that case maybe he ought to go back; an eye for an eye was only fair.

Even if the dog wasn't dead, Robin should be killed anyway. He just got in the way, now. He couldn't save the team and he couldn't stop X. He was alone and lost; there was nothing he could possibly do.

But he recalled times he was separate from his team and he still managed to win. What made this time any different?

He was without his mask.

Beast Boy's harsh words ran through Robin's head. He was entirely right; he had to deal with it. It shouldn't affect him, and if it did not nearly this much. So why was it?

What did the mask mean to him?

It didn't matter—he didn't have it, anyway.

The humid evening air made his entire body clammy. It was going to make him go mad…

…if he hadn't gone mad, already.

o-o-o

"Even if Robin is running the entire way, we're going to be here a while," began Cyborg, "Anyone know how we can pass the time?"

"Um…" Starfire thought for a moment, "A word game?"

"Dude, do you really think Robin's running? He's probably taking his sweet time."

"I know," Cyborg sighed, "He's probably hitch-hiking."

"I never thought we'd be talking about Robin like he's a complete loser," considered Beast Boy, "We've said he takes things too seriously, that he's obsessed with bringing criminals down, that he just never stops—man, he wasn't perfect, but I miss him, now."

"Maybe you were right on the target when you said he was a _new_ Robin, because without his mask he _isn't_ the Robin we know," the half-robot said.

"I know; he's a whole different person!"

Cyborg moaned, "Maybe we should just follow X's advice and go to sleep. Even if he got here before sunrise he's not gonna put up a fight against Red X."

"Man," grumbled Beast Boy in his cage, "I wish I brought my GameStation Moveable."

"If Robin doesn't come through for us, it's the end for those kids."

Sitting himself down, Beast Boy stated in a serious tone, "No matter who he is right now—Robin or not—he better do something."

She wanted to tell them they were wrong about Robin. She wanted to tell them that he would come soon. She wanted to tell of a fierce battle that would take place between Robin and Red X that would leave Robin the victor. She wanted to assure them that the children would be safe after Robin secured the antidote for their syndrome.

But Starfire doubted all of this, herself. So she said nothing.

She scanned the room and found Raven in the same position on the floor. Starfire hoped Raven was alright; X had said she was only asleep.

Red X had flustered them all so much after capturing them and separating Robin from the team. She felt terrible thinking about it, but she had nearly forgotten all about the children.

They had been in similarly utterly hopeless situations before, but it never mattered so much because Robin _made_ hope. Starfire had always felt that Robin could accomplish absolutely anything he wanted to, even though he was without any superpowers. He was determined and brilliant; now Robin, himself, seemed even more pathetic than the situation.

There were several instances nearly identical to this one where Robin stood alone, but he always performed better than the four others as a team.

"We can't just sit around waiting," Beast Boy said, "There's got to be something we can do."

"I'm a torso, Starfire's stuck in goo, you're in an electrified cage, and Raven's still passed out," Cyborg lamented, "I want to help as much as you do, but there's nothing we can do." Rolling his eyes he added, "The only one capable of doing anything is Robin."

"Please," Starfire finally spoke up, "do you not feel you are being a bit too harsh on Robin? He is not acting like himself—this is true—but stopping to eat was a mutual decision."

"We're not blaming Robin for getting us trapped," he explained, "But Robin's gotta get over himself."

"Ugh," the shape-shifter sulked, "Now that you mention it, Star, I feel terrible for wanting that food."

"Oh—No, I did not mean to put any guilt on you!"

He sighed, as did Cyborg. Any conversation stopped as each reflected on all that had happened thus far that evening.

o-o-o

Step.

Step.

Step.

Step.

The monotony, alone, was brutal.

He paused on the side of the road to wipe the sweat from his worried brow. Robin couldn't think of a time he felt any more alone. A glance behind him revealed the farmer's market was no longer in sight. And the buildings ahead of him just looked so far away.

He bent over himself, rubbing each hand upon their corresponding aching leg. He proceeded to take his left hand and reach it up towards his head. Grabbing a clump of hair, he pulled a knot out; even though it hurt his scalp, he quickly reached in and pulled again.

He examined his left hand. He still had his gloves; he now felt very thankful X had not taken them away, too.

He really had to be on his way; even if he felt he could do nothing, he had to try. With his right hand he picked off a couple strands of hair that had come out, but they stuck to his moist gloved fingers. He shook his hand until they came off.

Robin straightened himself a bit, only to assume a nearly as hunched position as he began walking along the route, again.

o-o-o

"_Robin, please come soon_," Starfire whispered to herself.

She was answered by a far off rumble of thunder.


	12. Revolt

**Chapter 12 – Revolt**

Red X had to wonder when the desk he was sitting at was last used. He leaned his chair backwards, half expecting it to break into pieces when it creaked.

He stared at the grayish ceiling and his eyes followed a cobweb that expanded to cover an upper corner of the room. He looked over the besmirched walls then focused his attention back on the desk in front of him. The box he had sitting on the said desk was filled with the Boy Wonder's masks, and next to this box was Beast Boy and Starfire's communicators.

He glanced beyond the desk to see the prison cell.

"Time sure doesn't fly when you're just sitting around," he observed aloud. He had a strange habit of talking to himself when no one was around.

He leaned back further and saw the wall behind him. It had a rack of hooks; one was occupied by a key. Afraid he was going to fall backwards, he let the chair drop upright. He looked down at the bottle containing the Reye's syndrome antidote he held in his hands.

As he shook the bottle around to entertain himself, he considered, "Maybe I should hang out with the Titans; it'd be more interesting than this."

He stood up and leisurely walked out of the room.

o-o-o

Even though the three hadn't said anything for some time, none of them had attempted falling asleep; they couldn't. The three Teen Titans' minds were far too active in thinking about what had happened thus far that evening and what possible outcomes might be, among other thoughts. It all came together in an undecipherable mesh of ideas that just seemed to be leaving all three of them with low spirits and painful headaches.

Starfire and Beast Boy immediately directed their attention towards Cyborg when they heard the ring tone of his communicator. "Ugh, my nose is getting sore." Regardless, he used his nose to accept the message. "What is it?"

It wasn't Robin on the other side though; they were receiving a new report, "This is Cyborg? Where's Robin?"

"He's…not feeling too good."

"Well, we've received an update from the hospital."

"That's gonna have to wait—we've got an update for—"

"No, I think you'll want to hear this. There were two kids at the hospital, last you heard. Now there's only one."

Cyborg's eyes widened, "_No…_"

Starfire and Beast Boy looked over at each other; their faces had turned pale.

"The girl is dead. The boy is still alive, but you guys better hurry up your search. I'm out." He ended the transmission.

Silence followed.

Then Cyborg came to his senses, "Wait! Hey, are you still there? I have to give you the coordinates of where we are! Hello?" Communications with the Jump City Police Department could only be made if the first message was sent by the department, which was the only reason they hadn't called for help earlier.

"The little girl is now…dead?" Starfire was in disbelief. In a few seconds time, however, her eyes began to swell and she started to sob, "Oh, we've already failed!"

"We can't let the boy die, too!"

Cyborg sent a message to Robin, "Hey, Robin…"

o-o-o

"_I heard_," Robin whispered into his communicator, in such a frail voice it surprised even him. He had heard the message. Cyborg didn't need to repeat it.

He let her down. He let that poor, innocent, little girl down. He had told her that they'd get the cure back for her, but she was right to not have faith in him.

Of course she was right; she was right about him being stupid and wasting time, too.

Now she was dead.

Tears streamed down his face; he couldn't remember the last time he had cried so openly.

She was right; she was dead. He slouched even more as he forced himself to trudge on, though his eyes were filled with tears.

o-o-o

"_You're not telling anyone. You're not telling anyone about this. I'll make sure of that. This is our secret._"

o-o-o

"You're not coming fast enough, Robin! We're running out of time! In fact, we already are! I don't want to loose the boy, too, so move it!" Cyborg yelled into his left arm, then cut off the transmission.

He had somehow become the leader. He realized he was acting more like Robin than Robin was, right down to being a bit of a jerk; still, if it was the only way to get Robin over there, he felt no remorse for being demanding.

Suddenly, Starfire and Cyborg's attentions were aroused by zapping noises and brilliant sparks of electricity. Withstanding the electricity of his cage, Beast Boy had transformed into his inner beast—the one that he had discovered one night when strange chemicals had affected his DNA—and was prying open the bars.

Finally, the snarling animal broke through, though his fur was singed.

This is when Red X entered, "Hey, guys, still awake?"

His eyes met with the wild Beast Boy's.

"What the—?"

Favoring the form of a lion over the primal beast, Beast Boy leapt on top of the enemy, pinning X to the floor. But Red X didn't seem scared of the shape-shifter as he roared in his face; he folded his legs in and kicked the Titan off of him.

He stood back up saying cheerfully, "Yeah, this is where I should have been spending my time!"

But just then he was zapped by Starfire's eye beams, and before he could react, the green lion charged back towards him to slam him against the wall.

As soon as he landed, he aimed his palm in front of him, shooting an X-shaped bomb directly at Beast Boy. The weary teen had already pushed himself beyond his limits by prying open the electrified cage, so of course the bomb, however weak it was, caused him to pass out.

Red X had to jump up quickly to avoid Starfire's beams from the other end of the room. As she shot the ground his feet just were, he leapt across the room behind Starfire's barrel.

While she tried to turn herself around in the substance, Red X pulled out a red blind-fold and tied it over Starfire's eyes.

"So," he laughed, "I guess you _are_ awake." He looked over by the only one who had been unable to fight him, Cyborg, "What's up?"

His response was simply a facial expression that looked as if he wanted to murder him violently.

"_Okay, well, I guess you wouldn't want to talk to me…_" He headed back towards the exit.

As he walked away, Starfire shook her head viciously and the loosely tied blind-fold fell off. Though by this time Red X was out of the room, Starfire shot eye beams after him, even if just to vent her frustration.

A few seconds later, however, he peeked back in and announced, "You missed me." Then he went on his merry way.

Two Titans now lay unconscious on the floor, two others remained immobile, and the last one was hardly the Titan they continued to refer to him as.


	13. Break Down

**Chapter 13 – Break-Down**

So the dog was dead, and now he was told that the girl was dead. And it was his fault; everything that had happened this evening was all his fault. X got away with the xenothium in the first place because of Robin's inability, but his worthlessness seemed to increase one-hundred times when his mask was taken from him. And the pathetic thing was he didn't know exactly why.

He again reached into his thick head of hair and tugged. And he reached in again. He just kept pulling at his hair.

He was sure he saw a black bird fly over his head and land across the street. While he glanced at this raven he began to doubt it was even there; there were no trees he could see that the bird may have come from. Was he loosing his mind?

What would his team do if he did and was unable to come to their aid? They would get out eventually, he was sure, even if the boy died before they stopped Red X. Although both children had been in the same plight, and although he wished to help the boy, Robin couldn't help but feel like he had more of an attachment to the girl.

He certainly didn't see himself in this girl; he saw what he wasn't. On the contrary, though he only looked at the boy for a second, he somehow reminded him of himself…and he hated thinking about himself as a child.

o-o-o

"_THIS IS OUR SECRET._"

o-o-o

He slouched lower and pulled his hair a bit harder. Simultaneously, his heartbeat quickened and he became even sweatier. He began to recall a scene from his youth he wished he had never witnessed.

o-o-o

"_YOU'VE GOT THE MONEY?_"

"_…NO._"

"_WHY NOT? I'M SICK OF WAITING!_"

"_I'M NOT PAYING YOU ANYTHING!_"

_HE SLAMMED THE OTHER MAN AGAINST AN ANIMAL'S CAGE. HE PROCEEDED TO LIFT THE MAN'S SHIRT AND TRACE THE X-SHAPED SCAR ON HIS SIDE._

"_YOU REMEMBER WHO GAVE YOU THAT SCAR, DON'T YOU?_"

"_NOT YOU. IT WAS ONE OF YOUR LACKEYS._"

_HE VIOLENTLY SLAMMED HIM AGAINST THE CAGE ONCE MORE._

"_DON'T GET SMART WITH ME! YOU'LL GET ME THAT MONEY OR I MIGHT PUT A NICE X RIGHT THROUGH YOUR THROAT, PERSONALLY!_"

_HE LEFT THE MAN ALONE, OR SO HE THOUGHT. A YOUNG BOY HAD WATCHED THEIR CONVERSATION; A YOUNG BOY WITH BLACK HAIR AND BLUE EYES. AND IT WASN'T LONG BEFORE HE WAS CAUGHT._

"_YOU'RE NOT TELLING ANYONE. YOU'RE NOT TELLING ANYONE ABOUT THIS. I'LL MAKE SURE OF THAT. THIS IS OUR SECRET._"

_THE BOY DIDN'T TELL ANYONE. HE WAS AFRAID TO TELL ANYONE. BUT THE OTHER MAN HAD WANTED TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT HE WANTED HIS MONEY._

_IT WAS UNCERTAIN IF WHAT HE DID SCARRED THE MAN HE WAS PURSUING, BUT HE SCARRED THE BOY._

_HE CUT THE WIRE._

_AND HIS PARENTS FELL._

o-o-o

Robin found himself down on his knees with his palms open on the pavement. He was crying, again, and couldn't calm himself down.

The boy he was recalling was supposed to be dead. He was supposed to have killed him a long time ago. He died as soon as…he put on a mask and Robin took over.

His right hand clenched into a fist, despite his muscle spasms throughout his body. He punched himself across the face and ended up falling over, sobbing.

He hadn't killed that boy. As much as he wanted to wish that person away, he was unable to. He had been present his whole life, only submerged deep within Robin. But the boy had grown with him, and now he was a teenager crying on the side of the road.

"_What is wrong with me?_" he whimpered.

He didn't want to be himself anymore; he wanted to be Robin again. Robin stopped evildoers and protected the innocent. He wanted to be logical and focused. He wanted to be confident and brave. He even wanted to be overbearing and obsessive.

He reached into his hair and broke knots viciously. He then examined his hands and saw a fair number of strands had been pulled out; this wasn't normal.

o-o-o

Neither Cyborg nor Starfire had said anything since Red X left.

But the silence was soon shattered by a lifeless gasp.

Startled by the strange noise, they turned their heads towards the source. Both their eyes fell upon Raven, still limp on the floor. But her eyes were wide open and, frighteningly, appeared pupil-less as her eyes were rolled back.

She let out a ghostly moan as her unconscious body began to levitate. Bricks crumbled, and the bars in the small window frames began to bend.

Her mind was focused on Robin, thus she was now feeling his pain.

The two conscious Titans couldn't think of anything to say; they were terrified.

But as quickly as the bazaar event had began, it ended and Raven dropped to the floor.

There she would remain unconscious.

o-o-o

As a robin's life is threatened as it loses its feathers when suffering from alopecia, Robin has been killed after losing his mask.

The utterly pathetic boy forced himself to stand up; the city wasn't far.


	14. Locked Away

**Chapter 14 – Locked Away**

There wasn't really any breeze; the humidity was most uncomfortable. Regardless, he couldn't help but feel drowsy in the moist air.

Lying on his back and looking towards the cloudy night sky—though it was creeping upon the early hours of the morning—was Red X, contentedly waiting atop the abandoned jailhouse.

He sat up and yawned; looking out in this neglected section of Jump City he noticed a certain figure walking along route 44.

o-o-o

"Ugh, you've _got_ to be kidding me," Robin moaned to himself as he consulted his communicator's tracking system to check his team's location. He had been dropped off so close to it; it may have even been the building he was left leaning against. And yet he had been sent on a fruitless mission down an unbelievably long road.

He lifted the communicator to his mouth, "Almost there, guys."

"Awesome, Robin," Cyborg responded, "but we're not in the clear, yet. Hurry up."

He put the communicator back on his belt and, after a glance at the city, lowered his head once more to look towards his feet as he walked along.

He paused when he heard a voice speak to him, "I didn't expect to see you for a while longer."

He raised his head to acknowledge the figure a few yards in front of him, "Red X?"

"I guess you didn't spend much time at the farmer's market; you _did_ go to the farmer's market, right?"

"You _wanted_ me to?" Robin was quite surprised.

X laughed, "Your team is almost as predictable as you are; just write 'farmer's market on route 44 into Jump City' on a barrel and they think it's a clue. Seriously, I just knew there was some old market along that road and thought it was a way to get you off my back for a little while."

Robin felt sick; he had gone there and hurt that dog with the only reason being helping Red X.

"I went to check it out yesterday before I led you on the goose chase. Did you see the creepy old guy? I only spoke to him for a second; said I was a troublemaker because he didn't like the costume," he explained, casually. "What'd he think of you?"

"He didn't like me asking questions."

As Red X chuckled at his response, Robin felt like mutilating him but he was unable to bring himself to. He slouched lower and pulled at his hair, which was matted due to the humidity.

He couldn't be weak any longer. He had to fight back and save his teammates, as well as the boy suffering from Reye's syndrome. Though his back remained hunched, he raised his head and his fiery eyes met with the enemy's. He pulled out a bird-a-rang but waited to make his move.

Red X saw this change, but didn't seem to think much of it. His response was raising his right fist and opening it to reveal an X-shaped disk in his hand. Not wasting any time, X tossed his weapon at Robin's hand, causing him to drop the bird-a-rang.

His fingers recoiled in pain; he felt as helpless as ever.

While Robin was busy attempting to sooth his pain, Red X kicked him to the ground. He didn't bother trying to get up; he knew he couldn't win. Red X walked over to his limp body asking, "What's wrong kid? What happened to that spark?" He picked him up by his cape and tossed him several feet through the air until he landed painfully on his back atop the pavement.

The criminal approached him, once again, just before giving him a kick that had him roll along the road a bit. While in motion his head slammed against a post for the road sign reading 'route 44', thus knocking him out.

o-o-o

"You okay?"

He began to regain consciousness, greeted by the image of Red X leaning against prison bars staring at him.

"Don't worry kid. The night's almost over. Maybe I'll see you later." With that, Red X straightened himself and left Robin alone.

He was locked in a prison cell. The others must have been being held captive elsewhere, because they weren't in this room.

"Cyborg?" he spoke into his communicator.

"Robin, where are you?"

"I fought Red X," he said, though what happened could hardly be considered a fight, "and lost. He has me locked up in a prison cell."

"Well, break out!"

"I can't just…_break out_."

"Why not?"

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know! Be creative!"

"I'm sorry, Cyborg… But there's nothing I can do. I did my best, but it wasn't enough."

"Quit feeling sorry for yourself," yelled Cyborg, "I don't have limbs, Star can't move, and Raven's still passed out! Beast Boy was locked in an electrified cage and HE managed to break out, even if he was defeated right after! The point is you're better off than he was but the difference is he actually cared what happened to that kid! Get a grip, Robin!"

He felt like he was going to cry again. "_I can't_," he whimpered, "_I can't!_"

"YES YOU CAN!"

"_Shut up!_" He turned off his communicator and tossed it across the cell.


	15. Return to Hiding

**Chapter 15 – Return to Hiding**

Since Robin's imprisonment by Red X, a heavy rain had started quite suddenly. For awhile his communicator's ring tone kept repeating as Cyborg attempted to contact him, but eventually it stopped. Robin supposed he had given up, because he refused to answer it.

He had sat himself hunched in the corner, pulling furiously at his hair, ignoring any strands that might be falling out.

"It's my fault," he muttered to himself, "Everything is. The boy will die, the girl is dead, the dog is dead, all of us are trapped, Red X has his belt, Red X has xenothium to power the suit…" Pulling on an especially thick knot he growled, "Red X has that suit in the first place!

"Slade's still out there, Terra's gone…" He tried to think of more things he'd done wrong in his life, and was answered with a painful headache that caused him to fall over.

o-o-o

"_THIS IS OUR SECRET._"

o-o-o

"Robin's a selfish little jerk!" Cyborg yelled in frustration.

Starfire did not wish to argue with him, and so silence followed.

But a quiet whisper had began, picking up volume each time it repeated, "_Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos; Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos; Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos; Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!_" A black aura shot out from Raven, but left her body lifeless.

But the two Titans, who were now spooked by Raven a second time this evening, felt that she was up to something.

o-o-o

He let out a loud cry, "_IT'S MY FAULT!_" He sniffled and wiped the tears from his eyes, "_EVERYTHING IS MY FAULT!_"

"_Stop it._"

Robin recognized the disembodied voice, "Raven? Where are you?"

"_I've had time to think, Robin. And I've been thinking about you very much._"

"That raven," he recalled from his walk along the road, "You saw me!"

"_So I guess I wasn't just dreaming things._"

"Raven, if you're able to contact me focus on working your own body instead! You can save them!"

"_You need help, too, Robin. And if you can be helped, the battle is won._"

"I'm a lost cause, Raven… I can't be helped and I don't want your pity."

"_If you can't be helped now we will never succeed in the future; I won't accept that you can't be helped._"

"Well, you're going to have to accept it! I haven't done anything right with my life, and this is no different!"

"_You can't keep blaming yourself._"

"Is this your idea of help, Raven?" he yelled through his tears, "You just want to tell me everything's okay? You want to tell me none of it is my fault? Well, that won't work because I know it's a lie!"

"_The only thing you'll believe is that someone is to blame for everything. You want to blame yourself, but don't you realize that goes against everything you've worked for?_"

"What?"

"_You don't have to be afraid and pathetic; you don't have to be a failure. You don't have to be the little boy you feel is responsible for your parents' deaths._"

She had truly made a connection with him earlier. Her saying this made the tears rush down his face. "_How? How can I not be the one I blame?_"

"_Because you aren't the person you blame! You're Robin!_"

"_No! Not without my mask!_"

"_Robin isn't a costume. Robin is a person; a fearless, brilliant, and sometimes domineering person._"

He wiped his eyes and pulled his hair, again.

"_Look outside your cell_," Raven's voice instructed.

He obeyed.

"_What do you see?_"

"A desk…"

"_On top of the desk is a box and in it are your masks. To get to them you need to be Robin-enough to get out._" He stood up and walked up to his bars. "_The wall behind that desk has a rack with the key to your cell on it. If you can get that key, you can get out and reclaim what was stolen from you._"

"_I can't reach that_," the boy cried, "_It's way too far!_"

"_Shut up; you know exactly how to get that key! Robin has already formulated several plans on how to reach that key, let alone all of the ways you know how to get out without it!_"

She was right. He knew how to get that key. If he could attach it to his grappling hook he would get out, but the odds of successfully doing that were very, very slim.

"It's too small a target, Raven…"

"_Robin wouldn't say that._"

"But I'm not Robin!"

"_That boy didn't die when you put on your mask, and Robin didn't die when you lost it!_"

He removed the grappling hook from his belt and pulled out some of the rope. After aiming carefully, he tossed and hit the mark. Whether the hook had attached itself to the key or not, he did not know, as both the hook and the key had fallen to the floor behind the desk.

He began pulling the rope in and, sure enough, he had succeeded. Once he saw the glimmer of the key he reeled in faster, now anxious.

Standing tall, he skillfully flung the grappling hook up and caught it with his right hand and caught the key with his left. The Boy Wonder reattached the hook to his belt and proceeded to reach outside the bars with the key. Opening up the doors, he was free.

He rushed over to the desk and fished inside the box atop it.

Robin put his mask back on.


	16. Robin

**Chapter 16 – Robin**

Holding the antidote in his hands, Red X told himself, "It's probably about time to go." He made his way to the front door, walking at a casual rate. He exited and looked up into the night sky, once more, as the rain beat down on his mask. X loved the rain.

Taking a few steps out onto the sidewalk, he felt a breeze fly past him. After it passed, the villain discovered he no longer held the bottle containing the cure; an examination of his person revealed that he had lost it.

A flash of lightning distracted him, revealing a figure standing in the darkness a few yards away. A lesser flash at least made him aware of who stood before him; a masked Robin standing tall in the pouring rain with his cape drooping over his shoulders.

A distant rumble of thunder followed these flashes of electricity.

Robin extended his arm, revealing the bottle in his hand. After showing Red X the item, he placed it in a pouch on his belt.

"I guess I should have known this would happen," Red X began, "But it doesn't matter; I'm _not_ letting you get away with that."

The Boy Wonder did not answer; he simply clasped his staff, held it out in front of him, and extended it.

The two stared at each other. The rain was so thick it looked almost like a solid mist.

Finally, Robin ran forward and swung his pole downward, but Red X swiftly evaded his attack, leaping against the wall of a building on the other side of the street. He jumped back towards Robin, with his left leg outstretched. But his kick was blocked by Robin's staff, as was his kick with his right leg he tried right after.

Robin pushed Red X upward as he blocked his right leg's kick, causing the thief to loose balance and fall backward. But the Teen Titan clasped X's ankle with his right hand, using his left to put his rod away. Only holding his ankle, Robin swung Red X around and tossed him towards the start of route 44. He slammed painfully onto the pavement, then kept rolling until he landed in the mud on the side of the road.

Though a bit dazed, he forced himself to sit up and shoot X-shaped bombs from his palms in Robin's general direction. Their explosion illuminated the night for a second, then the smoke began to clear leaving no signs of X's target. But then again, Robin had somehow managed to run past him and retrieve the Reye's syndrome cure without him noticing.

Suddenly Robin landed in front of him; apparently he had leapt over the explosion. Red X was a bit startled and fell back into the mud. But Robin grabbed the collar of his cape and put his face up to his.

"DO YOU HAVE _ANY_ IDEA WHAT YOU PUT ME THROUGH?" He didn't wait for an answer; he followed by punching the bottom of X's jaw.

He fell back onto the ground, but, after rolling away from Robin, bounced back on two feet.

"And it wasn't enough to mess with ME, WAS IT? You just HAD to make sure that LITTLE GIRL DIED, RIGHT? AND YOU WANT THE BOY DEAD, TOO?"

As Robin came charging towards him, he shot a grappling hook towards the nearest building and landed on the top of it. "_What?_" X uttered, just before having to jump again to avoid the barrage of explosives Robin tossed at him.

He landed behind Robin and continued, "Look, kid; I didn't know anyone was at the hospital with the disease! All I knew is that they recently got the cure; I thought they were just stocking themselves with it since it's so new! I was unaware, so, as far as I'm concerned, my conscious is clear!" Something about his tone sounded a bit off.

Robin turned towards him as an insanely bright flash of lightning had struck, illuminating his deathly fierce and intimidating masked face, as he shouted, "YOU'RE SICK!" The sheer anger radiating from the boy's expression managed to give Red X chills.

The earsplitting boom of thunder that followed the flash of lightning was just loud enough to compare to Robin's fury.

Logic would denote that Robin's legs would be exhausted after having to do as much walking as he did. So X thought he'd run a little ways down the road to force Robin to follow if he wished to continue the fight, which he was most sure he did. Unfortunately for him, however, Robin somehow managed to gain on him, grabbing his cape and flipping him backwards onto the street by it.

Robin jumped on top of him and pinned him helplessly on the ground. Using his left arm to keep him down, he reached with his right placing his hand securely on X's mask. He wanted to see who it was who put him through this misery.

"STOP," Red X shouted. When Robin placed his hand over his face, X's typically calm persona somehow vanished. "DON'T TAKE OFF MY MASK! IF YOU DO, I SWEAR, I'LL KILL US BOTH!" To prove to Robin that he wasn't bluffing, he managed to reach his hand over a bit to his belt, prepared to trigger all of the xenothium ore at once.

Even though his threat was severe, Red X himself suddenly seemed utterly pathetic. Despite everything that had happened, Robin found himself feeling pity for him.

While X wriggled and groaned, Robin relaxed his body and took his hand away from X's face. Somehow, seeing Red X squirm brought Robin's rage to an abrupt end.

"…I'd be looking at the wrong guy, wouldn't I?"

The two stared at each other for a moment while the rain continued to fall.

Red X seized the brief moment Robin was tranquil, pushing him off forcefully. Still at unease, Red X ran a few feet before tossing a smoke bomb behind him.

Robin followed, but when the smoke cleared it was obvious that X was gone. But he didn't feel guilty for letting him get away.

"We'll meet again. I know it."


	17. An Improper Ending

Thank you all for reading and reviewing.

* * *

**Chapter 17 – An Improper Ending**

After his confrontation with Red X, Robin wasted no time finding his comrades. With his help, Starfire was freed and the two worked together to rebuild Cyborg. With enough nudging the three were able to wake Beast Boy, as well as Raven who at this point wasn't in quite as deep a sleep as they had thought.

The Teen Titans hurried to the hospital only to be informed that the boy had just passed away minutes before their arrival.

o-o-o

"So all of our efforts tonight were for nothing?" Starfire questioned, once the Titans had arrived home and took a moment to relax in the lounge; they couldn't take a seat, of course, as the sofa had been destroyed.

Cyborg grumbled, "Pretty much."

Robin stood by the window which still had the gaping hole X had carved into it. As he looked out he was happy to see that the rain had stopped and he sky was finally starting to clear.

"Dude… We let him down… We let them both down… And their families… We busted our butts tonight and we didn't even win," reminisced Beast Boy.

"I guess we might have been due for a failure," Raven concluded.

Trying to comfort himself as well as the others, Cyborg added, "Yeah, I mean we never lost before; I guess we shouldn't let one miss haunt us too much."

"But of all the times we could have failed," Starfire began, wiping tears from her eyes and sniffling, "why did it have to be when the stakes were so very high?"

Robin's not facing his team gave them all the impression that he wasn't taking their loss well. Cyborg inquired, "Hey, Robin, you alright?"

In actuality, Robin almost felt like smiling; he was just happy to be wearing his mask, again. "Yeah, I'll be alright."

Starfire tried to calm down; she had already cried on the ride home. "Has anyone an idea as to why the Red X stole the antidote in the first place?"

"Aw, dude," Beast Boy sighed, "You don't think he knew another kid who had the disease, do you?"

"It's possible," considered Cyborg, now plagued with even more guilt, "Reye's syndrome is rare; I doubt he'd have just stolen the cure without specific reason."

"No," argued the Boy Wonder, "Something tells me that _Red X_ doesn't know many people, let alone kids."

His emphasis on 'Red X' confused the others a bit.

Robin continued, "That cure is even rarer than the syndrome itself; I'm sure X was looking to sell it on the black market."

"But," Starfire chirped in, "if this disease is so rare, would the Red X have stolen it without already having a potential buyer?"

A moment of silence followed.

"It's been a long, long night, Titans," stated Robin, "We should at least try to get two or three hours sleep."

"Yeah, if I can even get to sleep," Beast Boy moaned. "I think I'm starting to feel sick again from that Chinese food," he added, which, while it may have been true, obviously wasn't the main reason he would be kept awake.

"Goodnight, y'all," Cyborg said as he headed towards the door. Before exiting he paused and looked towards his leader, "Robin… I'm sorry if I was hard on you tonight."

Not averting his eyes from the window, he answered, "Don't be sorry, Cyborg. You did what needed to be done; you performed outstandingly tonight."

Cyborg nodded in response, then left for his room.

"Robin," Beast Boy meekly began, "I'm sorry. I really didn't have any faith in you tonight; even if we were a little too late, you came through as soon as you started acting like yourself. You're still the coolest guy I know, dude; don't ever change." He slowly turned around and walked towards the exit.

"Thanks, Beast Boy. Goodnight."

"'Night. 'Night, Star; 'night, Raven," and with that the shape-shifter was gone.

Only Robin, Raven, and Starfire remained in the room; the three Titans shared an awkward moment of silence.

The stillness was finally broken by Raven, "Robin?"

For her, he turned around to face, "What's up, Raven?"

"I just wanted to say I'm…sorry. For demanding so much privacy for myself, I really should have respected yours; I…think you know what I mean." While Raven felt somewhat guilty for letting her mind examine Robin as closely as it did, she also regretted spying on Robin and Starfire earlier; but she wasn't about to tell the two of them about that.

Robin nodded, "It's alright, Raven. I should be indebted to you; you helped me realize something that should have been clear to me a long time ago. Thank you."

"You're welcome. You really are incredible; you've managed to create your own character, which is more than anyone else is able to say. Just remember who that character is—a hero."

Even though Starfire was under the impression the two didn't care how lost she was in this conversation, she felt she had a general idea what they were discussing.

"Goodnight, Starfire," Raven said as she walked past the alien girl.

"Oh—Goodnight, Raven," she had responded.

Thoughts ran through Raven's head as to how Red X knew to take Robin's mask, though, given the circumstances, she didn't think it wise to discuss them. The one theory that made the most sense was actually the simplest: Red X wore a mask, also.

Even if their devotion to their man-made identities seemed peculiar, Raven couldn't help but admire the idea. She had often wished that she could just be someone else.

"Goodnight, Robin."

Robin called to her as she left the room, "Goodnight, Raven."

Starfire and Robin were truly left alone.

Robin looked back outside; a breeze came through the circle X had cut out, blowing his cape gently.

Starfire took a deep breath; there was much she wanted to say to Robin, but wasn't sure if she'd be able to. "Robin… I witnessed a side of you tonight I never thought was there. You operated weak and helpless." Her tone was serious and her genuine concern was evident.

She stood beside him, facing the window. Looking at his reflection in the glass, she continued, "Seeing this side of you has made me question just how well I know you. Robin, please, share with me your troubles. I want to know them; I wish to help you."

"I'm fine, Starfire," he laughed, as he turned his head to face her. She looked upon his masked face. "Right now I'm Robin, and that's all you need to know," he finished, grinning.

She forced a smile on her face for him.

He looked back outside; the sun had started to rise.

"…No."

He glanced at Starfire, again, a little confused and without a grin.

"I'm—I'm sorry, Robin, but you are wrong," she argued, worriedly, "As much as you would wish to believe everything is fine and that you can wish that frail character away, you cannot.

"Understand, Robin, that you are a single person. Just because you rarely demonstrate your weakness does not mean any time you are insecure you can label that a different individual."

Robin sat on the floor and folded his legs in. Starfire fell to her knees and put her hand on his shoulder.

"You…question how well you know yourself, yes?"

He reached into his hair and ran through it with his fingers, breaking a knot.

"**Alopecia"**

by Kevin Kypers

**The End**

She checked the address she had written on the scrap of paper once again; she was certainly in the right ally. She checked her watch once again; she had arrived an hour early and now he was two hours late.

She couldn't wait around any longer; Red X wasn't showing up. She supposed that she had saved a fair amount of money, though she really could care less about capital; her baby sister was on her deathbed for heaven's sake. Though Red X's services wouldn't come cheap, at least her family could afford it, unlike the completely radical price the hospital offered. Besides, they had told them it would take a few weeks before they could even get the cure for them; X said he'd get it in a few days.

It didn't matter, though. The petite, young Chinese woman with the cute face and short black hair began her slow walk home, "I guess I put my trust in the wrong person."

Unbeknownst to her, Red X had arrived right on time, but remained hiding behind a building. He had contemplated stepping out and explaining the situation, but couldn't bring himself to.

He thought about going back to the hospital and stealing the antidote a second time, but what about that boy Robin had mentioned? Apparently a little girl already died.

He peered out and saw that the young woman was out of sight. "Man, maybe I should look for a new career," he sighed

He took a few steps, slouching terribly. Then he took a moment to look at the rising sun.

"…_Na_…" He pulled out an X-shaped grappling hook, aimed it towards the rooftop, and fled the scene.


End file.
